Program Evaluation of TLC’s Good Ground Initiative
A nonprofit land trust, the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), tasked my team with designing an evaluation of its Good Ground Committee (GGC), a majority BIPOC group of stakeholders representing a variety of professions and expertise relevant to equity, farming, and conservation. We designed a comprehensive program evaluation to empower TLC to understand the experience of a GGC member. This collaborative evaluation framework values community ownership and knowledge, problem-solving, leadership, and decision-making; requires close engagement with stakeholders; and favors community- and place-based programs.
Stakeholder Engagement
Developing and Evaluating K–12 Education Resources for New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Place-based environmental education meets meaningful community engagement.
My ability to cultivate reciprocal relationships with community partners proved indispensable for my master’s project, during which my three-person team developed a place-based environmental education curriculum. Working closely with my client, I designed and conducted an evaluation of educators’ experiences bringing climate change into K-12 classrooms.
First, I designed and distributed a survey to climate educators. Then, in February 2024 I traveled to New York to facilitate a participatory workshop at the annual Climate Institute. It drew together 45 passionate educators—three times the expected number of participants—to foster dialogue and generate meaningful feedback about the program to strengthen resilience in New York’s coastal communities.
Above: Tori Velasquez facilitates the stakeholder engagement workshop at the New York Department of Education’s annual Climate Institute.
Sage Engagement 